


"Wanna Bet?"

by aintweproudriff



Series: Javidblue's Favorites [1]
Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Betting, Coming Out, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-01
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-11-07 17:46:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11064006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aintweproudriff/pseuds/aintweproudriff
Summary: Spot and Race bet on their friends, until they bet on themselves.





	"Wanna Bet?"

**Author's Note:**

> I got this prompt from tumblr, and thought it was pretty good for Sprace. Also, will I ever have a fic in which I don't have at least Javid if not Jack/Davey/Crutchie? Probably not.

It had started in eighth grade, when Mush came out as pansexual, and explained to all of his friends what that meant. 

"So I've been learning a lot about this from the Internet," he said. "And the first thing to know is that there are more than two genders. Like, genders besides girl and boy. Sometimes a girl was born in the wrong body, or the other way around. And sometimes people are both a girl and a boy, and sometimes people could be neither. Keep that in the back of your head, it'll come back later."

It took the group around him, now as many as twenty kids, a few minutes to talk through the revelation. Once they understood, Mush continued. 

"So you know how people are gay, right? They like people of the same gender. And some people like people of the opposite gender. Other people like both boys and girls."

A voice from the back spoke up. "If there are people who aren't boys or girls, who likes them?"

Mush grinned. "That's what I was getting to! There are people who like people, no matter their gender. Those people are called pansexual, and that's me!" 

Again, it took a few minutes of discussion for the group that had amassed to discuss the ideas being presented. By the time they had finished, Mush had already sat back down. 

-

Over the course of the next week, it seemed like every student in the eighth grade, and especially the students who had heard Mush speak, understood gender and sexuality. Conversations about gender fluidity and spectrums were started in classrooms and in the courtyard, and flourished in the lunchroom. 

The lunchroom was where Spot came out to the group.  
"I'm a boy," he told his peers, only the day after Mush had come out. "I'm not a girl."

Everyone seemed to agree with him; it made sense that Spot was a boy, and now that everyone thought about it, he always had been.  
Even if they hadn't accepted him, anyone who dissented would have stayed quiet. Spot, even Spot with two long braids and a skirt on, was scary. 

Then Jack came out.  
"I'm a boy too," he declared, "and I'm pansexual too."  
Cheers erupted from the table, and followed Jack to the courtyard. 

Then Race came out as a trans boy after Jack did, and received claps on the back. 

-

"Hey," Race tapped Spot on the shoulder as they exited a classroom one day. "Who do you think is going to be next to come out?"

Spot gave his friend a surprised look. "Should you be betting on this?"

"Aw, c'mon. Who's it gonna be?"

Spot looked around dramatically, making sure the coast was clear to confess his idea.  
"No clue where I get this idea, but you know that kid with the glasses? It'll be her next."

"Huh." Race nodded and shuffled his papers. "I would have guessed the kid with the bad leg."

"Yeah? How much would you bet on that?"

"Couple bucks maybe."

"Deal."

-

Days later, if an outsider had observed the small details of the scene in which Specs came out as nonbinary, they would have seen Race pass Spot a handful of quarters. 

-

"Who's next?" Spot asked Race later the same day. 

"Crutch Kid. I'm sticking with that one."

"Are you putting two bucks on Crutch Kid?"

"I'm putting four bucks on Crutch Kid," Race stared Spot down. 

"Oh, okay. Fine then, I'll put four bucks on Juliet."

-

When 'Crutch Kid' publicly made it known that they were a 'they,' Spot grumbled. In a yellow composition book, he wrote down that he owed Race four dollars. 

However, when Juliet became Romeo, Race said nothing, but passed Spot five bucks. 

-

By the time that their group left middle school, over half of the friend group had come out, and Spot and Race had exchanged upwards of $40. 

Their habit stayed with them through high school, only it became more involved.  
Once most people were out, the issue was not people's identities, but instead their relationships. 

-

"Jack and Elmer, you think?"

"No. Jack and Blink."

"You're so on."

"How long?"

"It'll take two weeks for Jack and Elmer to get together, and they'll last about a week."

"So little faith in our friends, Race."

"I've seen the way that Jack 'dates are nice, once or twice,' Kelly goes through people. A week or less."

"Okay," Spot conceded. "I don't think they're going to get together. But if they do, they're going to last at least two weeks. Elmer's too nice, he'll want to save whatever relationship they might get. He's going to drag out the breakup." 

"It's fifteen bucks if you're wrong, Conlon. That's a big risk."

"Or I'll be fifteen bucks richer, Higgins."

"Yeah right."

"Don't forget you owe me ten if Jack and Blink get together in a month or less."

-

After meeting to discuss bets, they'd go their separate ways; sometimes they didn't talk for days. When there was an important piece of gossip, or if someone had won, they hunted each other down immediately. 

Race would walk into one of Spot's classes and wordlessly hand him money, confusing many of the people in the class.  
Once, Spot had chased down Race's car as he left school, intent on collecting his spoils.  
"I won, you fucker. Come back here!"

-

In the middle of sophomore year, the Jacobs family transferred to their school, and Spot saw an opportunity. He texted Race. 

Spottyboy: Jack & new kid David in 2 months or less. Kath & new kid Sarah @ the spring dance  
Racecar: how much?  
Spottyboy: 30 on each  
Racecar: wow I'll take it

Race thought he was going to come out of the dance a rich man, but he realized that although he had won the bet on Jack and David, Sarah and Katherine had gone to the dance together. 

-

When Jack, David, and Crutchie announced to the group that they were all dating each other, Race texted Spot under the table. 

Racecar: how long?  
Spottyboy: until graduation at least  
Racecar: it's gonna last?  
Spottyboy: yea  
Racecar: wow  
Racecar: …ok. no bet then

-

Not long after, Spot took notice of something he hadn't seen earlier. Kid Blink and Mush sitting next to each other, obviously flirting. 

Spottyboy: how long until blink and mush get together?  
Racecar: they've been together for two months  
Spottyboy: really?  
Racecar: yeah  
Spottyboy: oh.  
Spottyboy: well how long are they gonna last?  
Racecar: those two are gonna stay together.  
Spottyboy: oh. no bet then

-

In a faded yellow composition notebook, Spot had written down every bet he and Race had made for years. For the sake of the memories he knew would come with it, he kept it updated.  
Lately though, there hadn't been many entries. That was for no lack of gossip, but rather less of an interest in betting on the lives of other people. Also, more relationships were getting more serious. Neither Spot nor Race wanted to believe that any of these relationships were going to fail; they didn't even want to think about it. 

It sat for weeks at a time in his bookshelf, until one day he brought it to school for the first time in years. During class, when Race got up to sharpen his pencil, Spot snuck the book into his friend's backpack. 

-

Spot grinned when he got home that night, knowing that Race was about to read through their history, and see the first entry. 

11-3-2013  
Bet: glasses kid comes out next  
Amount: $2  
Winner: Spot

Another entry read:  
Bet: Jack and Davey in > 2 months  
Amount: $30  
Winner: Race

The last entry had to be Spot's overall favorite, though, because he had just written it in that morning. 

Bet: Race agrees to go out with Spot  
Amount at stake: All of Spot's emotions  
Winner: ???

-

The next day, if Jack passed money to Crutchie when Spot and Race walked into class holding hands, no one really noticed.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! If you liked it, please leave comments and kudos to let me know! Prompts, ideas, and constructive criticism are also very much appreciated. 
> 
> Come say hi to me on my tumblr @spot-and-all-his-cronies, or on my fanfic account @javidblue!


End file.
